Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic FDK Darkest Dreams 35

SMIRKYEEEE!!!!



<runs through the houes screaming>

<runs off to read>

I love how you swing back and forth between lois being ready to listen and Clark not wanting to tell her to Clark trying to set up a meeting to tell her and Lois ignoring what he is trying to say. Do let her find out so Clark can be comforted.

What? <DJ asks innocently>

Hey, at least it's not the chainsaws!

Good part. Poor Clark... Get that boy some sunshine and a friendly listening ear!!!

-- DJ

I'm going to assume the fact that Lex is a little green and Clark is actually getting physically ill in his presense is due to kryptonite? :rolleyes:

Get the boy a sun lamp.

It's coming. Soon. Relatively soon, that is...

Whoa, MetroRhodes! Where in the world do you *get* those things?!

Will do. <hastens to obey>

I love dropping little things and seeing what people pick up and how they figure different details to mean. Anyway, we'll see, eh?

Thanks for your reviews, guys. It's always nice to know I can count on my favorite FoLCs to review quick and nice. It really makes me feel better than just sitting here and pushing refresh again and again and again...

Yes, I am pitiful. But there you are. So far, it is your four reviews that has fed the first 3000 words of the next chapter. Congratulations. You know, if some other people step forward like you, I might even be able to post early...possibly...

<walks off humming>

SmirkyRaven

How sad! Poor Clark.

I’m beginning to question his reasons for wanting to be with her. She treats him like a dog. I’m a big Lois fan, but I must confess, that in this part, Lois is making me hate her.

They don’t realize that they are in the same book, let alone the same page.

Maybe if your nose wasn’t so high in the air you wouldn’t miss the fact that your beloved hero is sitting right in front of you.

That #&%#@*!*&!!!!!! Come on, let me at her! (I need one of DJ's chainsaws!)

I guess Lois only takes the blinders off for special occasions, huh?

Sorry if I'm a little too harsh on Lois. I guess you can say that I had a bad day and am taking my frustration out on a fictional character.

But hey, if this story is driving me to frustration then you know you're doing something right!

Keep up the good work! I'm hooked!

It is clear that Luthor is using kryptonite to treat his own cancer. But you have something up your sleeve.

As I see it either Luthor will figure out that Clark is Superman due to Clark's reaction to the kryptonite radiation he, Luthor, is steeped in or Lois will figure it out.

Or perhaps both. Hmm, Luthor figures it out and leads a kidnapping of Kent in order to continue using him to save Luthor's life.

While this is going on you will have Lois figure it out be spending much of the night mad at Clark only to discover the next morning that Clark is missing. Because she believes/knows Clark is Superman and that Luthor is the "Boss" thus she knows what has happen to Clark and where to go to begin rescuing him.

But not being able to do it alone she has to have someone help. Enter the Primaries, the only force that Lois might be, questionable but maybe, able and willing to trust.

Nightfall is still in the future. It will prove the Primaries have made the right choice.


At some point in this tale Lois has to face facts, she has to see Clark as more than just a minor spear carrier. The way she made the leap with Luthor, she can do it with Clark.

Overall I'm looking forward to seeing where you take this story.

God, you're torturing me!!!

It's been a really torturous night, you know. First Grey's Anatomy, and now this. More specifically, Clark is torturing me. I know he's scared to the days end, but he *has to tell Lois* . They. need. to. sit. down. and. talk.

Meanwhile, I'm glad Clark is doing some Super stuff!

Lex is creepy, as usual. I doubt he'll give up on Lois that easily. I think it's kind of crummy on Lois' part to dump on Clark and accuse him of not having good intuition, but what can you do, that's Lois for you.

I think that's the end of my disjointed thoughts for now!
JD

Wonderful part, Smirky. I love your story. You never fail to keep up the suspense. And again I wish that Clark is going to tell her soon. She needs to know he's Superman.

Smirky,

I am ashamed that I've read all 35 parts and this is the first time that I've left feedback. Sorry about that.

You have me on tenterhooks here! Every time there is a new part, I rush to read it, and then every time I am left wanting more.

More! Please! Sooner rather than later, okay?

Irene

How much longer are you going to keep him grounded?

I love this story! Poor Clark. Lois isn't really listening to him. And Lex having kryptonite treatments- creepy.

Hey Smirky

Just wanted to check in and say how much I'm enjoying this story. Lovely plot (at least, I hope it turns out so!) and characterisation, and beautiful language. I love the previous part in which Clark realised that he doesn't need to be able to fly to be Superman. It's part of Clark's healing, to be able to realise and do this -- his soul needs healing as much as his body does. And I love how, in this part, Lois is the only one who realises that it wasn't the Flash doing all those rescues

I'm with the people who think that Lex is dosing himself with kryptonite, and the experimentation on Superman was related to this.

Here's hoping that the return of Superman and the Big Revelation aren't far away!

-- Jude

Aw, that part melted me. Poor Clark. Why can't I just hug him and take away all his pain??

*Sigh* I'll be patient and not complain about Clark needing to tell Lois anymore. I trust you to get us through this story okay .

Another great part. Hope to see more soon!
Jessi

Have any of you read The Gospel According to Mark? I find this gospel so fascinating, because Jesus is so human in it, so fallible. For example, when he tries to cure a blind man, he has to try twice before he succeeds (Mark 8: 23-25), and when he comes home to his own home town he is all but unable to perform any miracles there at all (Mark 6:5). And when he has healed or raised someone, he doesn't want anyone to talk about it, as if he was afraid of letting people know about his miraculous "otherness" (for example, Mark 1:43-44; Mark 5:43).

Ah, but have you read the letters of Paul, and the Biblical stories of Paul in general? Paul is the greatest of all missionaries, the greatest conveyor of the story of Jesus Christ. But have you noticed how Paul talks about Jesus? Only once does he mention even a single thing that Jesus actually said or did while he lived on the Earth. (The story Paul recounts is what Jesus said during the Last Supper.) Otherwise, Paul seems to think of Jesus exclusively as the divine presence he met on his way to Damascus - a blinding light from the heavens, a booming, commanding voice from the sky. So majestic! And so totally removed from the fallible Jesus that we meet in the Gospel of Mark!

When I read your story, Rachel, I can't help thinking of these two portraits of Jesus - the fallible, somewhat frightened man we meet in the Gospel of Mark, and the unbelievably perfect divine being that we meet in the letters of Paul. I'm sure you know what I'm driving at. While Superman is most certainly no god, Lois idolizes him as if he was all but divine. But when it comes to Clark, she is so painfully aware of all of his shortcomings:

I've sometimes wondered what Paul would have said if he had met the frightened and flawed Jesus from the Gospel of Mark. And I so have to wonder what Lois will say when she finds out that her all but divine Superman is really only Clark Kent. Will Clark be able to look Lois in the eye when she finds out that Clark has dragged her idol through the filth of the earth by daring to be him? After all, how can Superman be perfect if he is only Clark?

It's interesting how Clark seems relatively unable to think of himself as Superman. And in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus keeps denying for a long time that he is the Messiah.

Ah, but in this chapter, Clark does seem to be coming to terms with the fact that he is Superman:

He is on his way back to being Superman again, though of course he isn't really there yet. And as Clark, I noticed, he seemed to be stuttering worse than ever. Certainly that visit from Luthor had to have a lot to do with Clark's renewed, enhanced fears.

Like somebody already pointed out, this is a great image.

Fear grips Clark. He begins stuttering, and he holds his stack of papers as if they might disappear into the maw of the billionaire if he didn't, feeding the monster's poisonous power in the process.

I love how you play with the expression "looking down on someone".

Like the others, I have to wonder if Luthor has been feeding himself Kryptonite, to turn himself into a living, lethal weapon against Superman. In the comics - which you may or may not be familiar with - Luthor wore a Kryptonite ring in the 1980s. However, the ring posioned him. First he had to have his hand amputated, then his cancer spread and he died of it. (Then he was resurrected, don't ask me how.)

I do believe that Luthor really was radiating small amounts of Kryptonite and physically affecting Clark:

It was the Kryptonite, Clark.

The effect Lex has on Clark is certainly scary, but I felt every bit as frightened when he was trying to impose himself on Lois in his horribly suave manner:

Horror! I'm shuddering! And how do you tell such a man "no"?

I have had you under surveillance, Lois? I know everything about you? You are mine?

Good answer, but - not one that is likely to keep Lex away for a very long time.

"Who are we to question such beings" - he makes it sound as if the Flash, and by implication Superman, are very serious threats to humanity. All the more so since these heroes are probably not human in the first place - they are "such beings", remember. Good thing that the Earth has upstanding men like Lex Luthor who are ready to oppose these evil aliens then, eh?

That was most certainly a serious threat.

I loved how you wrote Clark's love for Lois in this chapter:

How beautiful.

Quote

You have to tell her.

I so agree, even if it will be hard for Lois to accept the truth. Especially now, when Clark has kept lying to her for so long.

Quote

Lois, I’m sorry. Please forgive me.

Yes, please forgive him for lying to you.

How beautiful. How sad.

I disagree. His half-truths were meant to mislead her. That's equivalent to lying in my book.

Oh, you are making me cry, Rachel.

I so, so hope that these two will find their way to honest togetherness and to understanding, forgiving love. They are so brave, and they need each other so much.

What an intensely beautiful chapter, Rachel.

Ann

Clark really needs to tell Lois about Superman. Maybe at dinner?

Hi!

Another brilliant chapter!!! OK, when are you going to address Clark's ship? No mention of it in this chapter and Lois is being nasty to Clark again. At least you had Lois figure out Lex is the "Boss" or "devil" that he is. What is Bobby Bigmouth going to tell Lois and Clark? Wow, I have lots of questions and I need answers! Post soon, or at least on Thur. as normal. Its going to be a long week! Keep up the good writing!

Okay, so there were some marvelous reviews for this last chapter. Thank you all so very much for the time you put into them--it really is greatly appreciated. Sorry I haven't had as much time to respond this time . . . to tell you the truth, I've been following MetroRhode's council from the last chapter's FDKs and taking that time to write, instead . . .

Which means that I just surprised myself by sitting down and finishing writing the rest of chapter 36. And even more surprising: it's almost 9000 words long--certainly the longest chapter I've written so far!

So the question is: what would you guys give me if I posted it, say, tomorrow, instead of Thursday?

<scratches head> No, wait. That wasn't the question I was looking for. The question really is, would you be *wanting* this extra-long, super chapter given to you tomorrow, even at the risk that I might not be able to get another one out until next Saturday or even later?

Ready, set, VOTE!

<sits back to watch the games begin>

SmirkyRaven

Why wait until tomorrow? If you post now, you'll have a great set of comments before bedtime!

Irene

Yeah, but I still have to do my normal edits and see if I can bribe my brother into reading through it for me to check for typos. Since it's such a long chapter, and I'm about to head off for dinner and then family stuff after that . . . tomorrow is looking more realistic.

I take it you're for it, then?



SmirkyRaven